Identification of audio content

ABSTRACT

An example implementation involves a playback device receiving digital data representing audio content, the digital data encoded in a first format. The playback device causes one or more speaker drivers to playback the audio content. The playback device decodes a portion of the received digital data to convert the portion of the received digital data from the first format to a second format and transmits, via a network interface to a computing device of an identification system, the decoded portion of the received digital data. The playback device receives, from via the network interface from the identification system, metadata corresponding to the audio content, and in response, causes a control device to display a graphical representation of the received metadata, wherein causing the control device to display the graphical representation comprises sending, via the network interface to the control device, the received metadata to the control device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, and is acontinuation of, U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No.16/011,165, filed on Jun. 18, 2018, entitled “Identification of AudioContent,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 16/011,165 claimspriority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to, and is a continuation of, U.S.non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 15/587,699, filed on May 5,2017, entitled “Identification of Audio Content Facilitated by PlaybackDevice,” issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,001,969 on Jun. 19, 2018 which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. U.S. non-provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 15/587,699 claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 to, and is a continuation of, U.S. non-provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 14/684,208, filed on Apr. 10, 2015, entitled“Identification of Audio Content Facilitated by Playback Device,” issuedas U.S. Pat. No. 9,678,707 on Jun. 13, 2017 which is also incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure is related to consumer goods and, more particularly, tomethods, systems, products, features, services, and other elementsdirected to media playback or some aspect thereof.

BACKGROUND

Options for accessing and listening to digital audio in an out-loudsetting were limited until in 2003, when SONOS, Inc. filed for one ofits first patent applications, entitled “Method for Synchronizing AudioPlayback between Multiple Networked Devices,” and began offering a mediaplayback system for sale in 2005. The Sonos Wireless HiFi System enablespeople to experience music from many sources via one or more networkedplayback devices. Through a software control application installed on asmartphone, tablet, or computer, one can play what he or she wants inany room that has a networked playback device. Additionally, using thecontroller, for example, different songs can be streamed to each roomwith a playback device, rooms can be grouped together for synchronousplayback, or the same song can be heard in all rooms synchronously.

Given the ever growing interest in digital media, there continues to bea need to develop consumer-accessible technologies to further enhancethe listening experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, aspects, and advantages of the presently disclosed technologymay be better understood with regard to the following description,appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 shows an example media playback system configuration in whichcertain embodiments may be practiced;

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of an example playback device;

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of an example control device;

FIG. 4 shows an example controller interface;

FIG. 5 shows a flow diagram for an example method;

FIG. 6A shows functionality of an example playback system;

FIG. 6B shows an example playback device extracting digital data foraudio content identification from a first position of an audio pipeline;

FIG. 6C shows an example playback device extracting digital data foraudio content identification from a second position of an audiopipeline;

FIG. 6D shows an example playback device extracting frequency-segregateddigital data for audio content identification;

FIG. 7 shows a flow diagram for an example method; and

FIG. 8 shows an example controller interface.

The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating example embodiments,but it is understood that the inventions are not limited to thearrangements and instrumentality shown in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Overview

In various situations, it may be useful for a playback device to receivedigital data and use the digital data in at least two ways. For example,the playback device may (i) use the digital data to play audio contentrepresented by the digital data and (ii) use the digital data tofacilitate retrieval of information related to the audio content. Forexample, the playback device may be configured to provide metadata to acontrol device, where the metadata is related to the audio content thatis played by the playback device. In some situations, however, thereceived digital data might be lacking in particular categories ofmetadata or might not include metadata at all. Therefore, it can beuseful for the playback device, perhaps while playing the audio content,to use the received digital data to facilitate retrieval of metadatafrom a content identification system.

It may be efficient to have the playback device—instead of the controldevice, for example—use the digital data to facilitate retrieval of theinformation from the content identification system. For example, duringplayback the playback device may already be receiving and/or processingthe digital data, whereas the control device would then have to receivethe digital data from the playback device before using the digital datato facilitate retrieval of the information. In other examples, thecontrol device might not be configured to receive the digital data atall. In this context, the control device facilitating retrieval of theinformation might disadvantageously require (i) using a microphone tocapture analog waveforms of the audio content being played by theplayback device, (ii) converting the analog waveforms into digitalinformation, and (iii) sending the digital information to the contentidentification system. Use of the playback device to facilitateretrieval of the information from the content identification system mayavoid the control device performing some or all of such functions.Having the playback device facilitate retrieval of the information fromthe content identification system may have other benefits as well.

Accordingly, some examples described herein include, among other things,a playback device configured to (i) receive digital data representingaudio content, (ii) send at least a portion of the digital data to anidentification system configured to identify the audio content based onthe at least a portion of the digital data, (iii) receive informationassociated with the audio content from the identification system, (iv)in response to receiving the information associated with the audiocontent from the identification system, send the received information toa control device that is configured to control the playback device, and(v) play the audio content via one or more speakers electricallyconnected to the playback device via a wired connection. Other aspectsof the examples will be made apparent in the remainder of thedescription herein.

In one aspect, an example playback device includes one or moreprocessors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storinginstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause orotherwise control the playback device to perform functions. Thefunctions include (i) receiving digital data representing audio content,(ii) sending at least a portion of the digital data to an identificationsystem configured to identify the audio content based on the at least aportion of the digital data, (iii) receiving information associated withthe audio content from the identification system, (iv) in response toreceiving the information associated with the audio content from theidentification system, sending the received information to a controldevice that is configured to control the playback device, and (v)playing the audio content via one or more speakers electricallyconnected to the playback device via a wired connection.

In yet another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storesinstructions that, when executed by a playback device, cause orotherwise control the playback device to perform functions. Thefunctions include: (i) receiving digital data representing audiocontent, (ii) sending at least a portion of the digital data to anidentification system configured to identify the audio content based onthe at least a portion of the digital data, (iii) receiving informationassociated with the audio content from the identification system, (iv)in response to receiving the information associated with the audiocontent from the identification system, sending the received informationto a control device that is configured to control the playback device,and (v) playing the audio content via one or more speakers electricallyconnected to the playback device via a wired connection.

In yet another aspect, an example method performed by a playback deviceincludes (i) receiving digital data representing audio content, (ii)sending at least a portion of the digital data to an identificationsystem configured to identify the audio content based on the at least aportion of the digital data, (iii) receiving information associated withthe audio content from the identification system, (iv) in response toreceiving the information associated with the audio content from theidentification system, sending the received information to a controldevice that is configured to control the playback device, and (iv)playing the audio content via one or more speakers electricallyconnected to the playback device via a wired connection.

In yet another aspect, an example control device includes one or moreprocessors and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storinginstructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause orotherwise control the control device to perform functions. The functionsinclude the control device sending, to a playback device, a command forthe playback device to retrieve, from an identification system,information related to digital data that is being received by theplayback device. In operation, the playback device is playing audiocontent represented by the digital data when the command is sent. Thefunctions further include the control device receiving, from theplayback device, the information retrieved by the playback device fromthe identification system. The functions further include the controldevice displaying (or causing to be displayed) a representation of (i)the received information or (ii) metadata retrieved from a metadatacurating device at a network location indicated by the receivedinformation. In some embodiments, the control device may display therepresentation of the received information and/or the retrieved metadatawithin a graphical user interface on the control device. In otherembodiments, the control device may additionally or alternativelydisplay the representation of the received information and/or theretrieved metadata within a graphical user interface on a device incommunication with the control device, e.g., a television screen orcomputer screen that is separate from the control device.

In yet another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storesinstructions that, when executed by a control device, cause or otherwisecontrol the control device to perform functions. The functions includethe control device sending, to a playback device, a command for theplayback device to retrieve, from an identification system, informationrelated to digital data that is being received by the playback device.In operation, the playback device is playing audio content representedby the digital data when the command is sent. The functions furtherinclude the control device receiving, from the playback device, theinformation retrieved by the playback device from the identificationsystem. The functions further include the control device displaying (orperhaps causing to be displayed) a representation of (i) the receivedinformation or (ii) metadata retrieved from a metadata curating deviceat a network location indicated by the received information. In someembodiments, the control device may display the representation of thereceived information and/or the retrieved metadata within a graphicaluser interface on the control device. In other embodiments, the controldevice may additionally or alternatively display the representation ofthe received information and/or the retrieved metadata within agraphical user interface on a device in communication with the controldevice, e.g., a television screen or computer screen that is separatefrom the control device.

In yet another aspect, an example method performed by a control deviceincludes the control device sending, to a playback device, a command forthe playback device to retrieve, from an identification system,information related to digital data that is being received by theplayback device. In operation, the playback device is playing audiocontent represented by the digital data when the command is sent. Themethod further includes the control device receiving, from the playbackdevice, the information retrieved by the playback device from theidentification system. The method further includes the control devicedisplaying (or causing to be displayed) a representation of (i) thereceived information or (ii) metadata retrieved from a metadata curatingdevice at a network location indicated by the received information. Insome embodiments, the control device may display the representation ofthe received information and/or the retrieved metadata within agraphical user interface on the control device. In other embodiments,the control device may additionally or alternatively display therepresentation of the received information and/or the retrieved metadatawithin a graphical user interface on a device in communication with thecontrol device, e.g., a television screen or computer screen that isseparate from the control device.

It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that thisdisclosure includes numerous other embodiments. While some examplesdescribed herein may refer to functions performed by given actors suchas “users” and/or other entities, it should be understood that this isfor purposes of explanation only. The claims should not be interpretedto require action by any such example actor unless explicitly requiredby the language of the claims themselves.

II. Example Operating Environment

FIG. 1 shows an example configuration of a media playback system 100 inwhich one or more embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced orimplemented. The media playback system 100 as shown is associated withan example home environment having several rooms and spaces, such as forexample, a master bedroom, an office, a dining room, and a living room.As shown in the example of FIG. 1, the media playback system 100includes playback devices 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118,120, 122, and 124, control devices 126 and 128, and a wired or wirelessnetwork router 130.

Further discussions relating to the different components of the examplemedia playback system 100 and how the different components may interactto provide a user with a media experience may be found in the followingsections. While discussions herein may generally refer to the examplemedia playback system 100, technologies described herein are not limitedto applications within, among other things, the home environment asshown in FIG. 1. For instance, the technologies described herein may beuseful in environments where multi-zone audio may be desired, such as,for example, a commercial setting like a restaurant, mall or airport, avehicle like a sports utility vehicle (SUV), bus or car, a ship or boat,an airplane, and so on.

a. Example Playback Devices

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of an example playback device200 that may be configured to be one or more of the playback devices102-124 of the media playback system 100 of FIG. 1. The playback device200 may include a processor 202, software components 204, memory 206,audio processing components 208, audio amplifier(s) 210, speaker(s) 212,and a network interface 214 including wireless interface(s) 216 andwired interface(s) 218. In one case, the playback device 200 might notinclude the speaker(s) 212, but rather a speaker interface forconnecting the playback device 200 to external speakers. In anothercase, the playback device 200 may include neither the speaker(s) 212 northe audio amplifier(s) 210, but rather an audio interface for connectingthe playback device 200 to an external audio amplifier or audio-visualreceiver.

In one example, the processor 202 may be a clock-driven computingcomponent configured to process input data according to instructionsstored in the memory 206. The memory 206 may be a tangiblecomputer-readable medium configured to store instructions executable bythe processor 202. For instance, the memory 206 may be data storage thatcan be loaded with one or more of the software components 204 executableby the processor 202 to achieve certain functions. In one example, thefunctions may involve the playback device 200 retrieving audio data froman audio source or another playback device. In another example, thefunctions may involve the playback device 200 sending audio data toanother device or playback device on a network. In yet another example,the functions may involve pairing of the playback device 200 with one ormore playback devices to create a multi-channel audio environment.

Certain functions may involve the playback device 200 synchronizingplayback of audio content with one or more other playback devices.During synchronous playback, a listener will preferably not be able toperceive time-delay differences between playback of the audio content bythe playback device 200 and the one or more other playback devices. U.S.Pat. No. 8,234,395 entitled, “System and method for synchronizingoperations among a plurality of independently clocked digital dataprocessing devices,” which is hereby incorporated by reference, providesin more detail some examples for audio playback synchronization amongplayback devices.

The memory 206 may further be configured to store data associated withthe playback device 200, such as one or more zones and/or zone groupsthe playback device 200 is a part of, audio sources accessible by theplayback device 200, or a playback queue that the playback device 200(or some other playback device) may be associated with. The data may bestored as one or more state variables that are periodically updated andused to describe the state of the playback device 200. The memory 206may also include the data associated with the state of the other devicesof the media system, and shared from time to time among the devices sothat one or more of the devices have the most recent data associatedwith the system. Other embodiments are also possible.

The audio processing components 208 may include one or moredigital-to-analog converters (DAC), an audio preprocessing component, anaudio enhancement component or a digital signal processor (DSP), and soon. In one embodiment, one or more of the audio processing components208 may be a subcomponent of the processor 202. In one example, audiocontent may be processed and/or intentionally altered by the audioprocessing components 208 to produce audio signals. The produced audiosignals may then be provided to the audio amplifier(s) 210 foramplification and playback through speaker(s) 212. Particularly, theaudio amplifier(s) 210 may include devices configured to amplify audiosignals to a level for driving one or more of the speakers 212. Thespeaker(s) 212 may include an individual transducer (e.g., a “driver”)or a complete speaker system involving an enclosure with one or moredrivers. A particular driver of the speaker(s) 212 may include, forexample, a subwoofer (e.g., for low frequencies), a mid-range driver(e.g., for middle frequencies), and/or a tweeter (e.g., for highfrequencies). In some cases, each transducer in the one or more speakers212 may be driven by an individual corresponding audio amplifier of theaudio amplifier(s) 210. In addition to producing analog signals forplayback by the playback device 200, the audio processing components 208may be configured to process audio content to be sent to one or moreother playback devices for playback.

Audio content to be processed and/or played back by the playback device200 may be received from an external source, such as via an audioline-in input connection (e.g., an auto-detecting 3.5 mm audio line-inconnection) or the network interface 214.

The microphone(s) 220 may include an audio sensor configured to convertdetected sounds into electrical signals. The electrical signal may beprocessed by the audio processing components 208 and/or the processor202. The microphone(s) 220 may be positioned in one or more orientationsat one or more locations on the playback device 200. The microphone(s)220 may be configured to detect sound within one or more frequencyranges. In one case, one or more of the microphone(s) 220 may beconfigured to detect sound within a frequency range of audio that theplayback device 200 is capable or rendering. In another case, one ormore of the microphone(s) 220 may be configured to detect sound within afrequency range audible to humans. Other examples are also possible.

The network interface 214 may be configured to facilitate a data flowbetween the playback device 200 and one or more other devices on a datanetwork. As such, the playback device 200 may be configured to receiveaudio content over the data network from one or more other playbackdevices in communication with the playback device 200, network deviceswithin a local area network, or audio content sources over a wide areanetwork such as the Internet. In one example, the audio content andother signals transmitted and received by the playback device 200 may betransmitted in the form of digital packet data containing an InternetProtocol (IP)-based source address and IP-based destination addresses.In such a case, the network interface 214 may be configured to parse thedigital packet data such that the data destined for the playback device200 is properly received and processed by the playback device 200.

As shown, the network interface 214 may include wireless interface(s)216 and wired interface(s) 218. The wireless interface(s) 216 mayprovide network interface functions for the playback device 200 towirelessly communicate with other devices (e.g., other playbackdevice(s), speaker(s), receiver(s), network device(s), control device(s)within a data network the playback device 200 is associated with) inaccordance with a communication protocol (e.g., any wireless standardincluding IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.15, 4Gmobile communication standard, and so on). The wired interface(s) 218may provide network interface functions for the playback device 200 tocommunicate over a wired connection with other devices in accordancewith a communication protocol (e.g., IEEE 802.3). While the networkinterface 214 shown in FIG. 2 includes both wireless interface(s) 216and wired interface(s) 218, the network interface 214 may in someembodiments include only wireless interface(s) or only wiredinterface(s).

In one example, the playback device 200 and one other playback devicemay be paired to play two separate audio components of audio content.For instance, playback device 200 may be configured to play a leftchannel audio component, while the other playback device may beconfigured to play a right channel audio component, thereby producing orenhancing a stereo effect of the audio content. The paired playbackdevices (also referred to as “bonded playback devices”) may further playaudio content in synchrony with other playback devices.

In another example, the playback device 200 may be sonicallyconsolidated with one or more other playback devices to form a single,consolidated playback device. A consolidated playback device may beconfigured to process and reproduce sound differently than anunconsolidated playback device or playback devices that are paired,because a consolidated playback device may have additional speakerdrivers through which audio content may be rendered. For instance, ifthe playback device 200 is a playback device designed to render lowfrequency range audio content (i.e. a subwoofer), the playback device200 may be consolidated with a playback device designed to render fullfrequency range audio content. In such a case, the full frequency rangeplayback device, when consolidated with the low frequency playbackdevice 200, may be configured to render only the mid and high frequencycomponents of audio content, while the low frequency range playbackdevice 200 renders the low frequency component of the audio content. Theconsolidated playback device may further be paired with a singleplayback device or yet another consolidated playback device.

By way of illustration, SONOS, Inc. presently offers (or has offered)for sale certain playback devices including a “PLAY:1,” “PLAY:3,”“PLAY:5,” “PLAYBAR,” “CONNECT:AMP,” “CONNECT,” and “SUB.” Any otherpast, present, and/or future playback devices may additionally oralternatively be used to implement the playback devices of exampleembodiments disclosed herein. Additionally, it is understood that aplayback device is not limited to the example illustrated in FIG. 2 orto the SONOS product offerings. For example, a playback device mayinclude a wired or wireless headphone. In another example, a playbackdevice may include or interact with a docking station for personalmobile media playback devices. In yet another example, a playback devicemay be integral to another device or component such as a television, alighting fixture, or some other device for indoor or outdoor use.

b. Example Playback Zone Configurations

Referring back to the media playback system 100 of FIG. 1, theenvironment may have one or more playback zones, each with one or moreplayback devices. The media playback system 100 may be established withone or more playback zones, after which one or more zones may be added,or removed to arrive at the example configuration shown in FIG. 1. Eachzone may be given a name according to a different room or space such asan office, bathroom, master bedroom, bedroom, kitchen, dining room,living room, and/or balcony. In one case, a single playback zone mayinclude multiple rooms or spaces. In another case, a single room orspace may include multiple playback zones.

As shown in FIG. 1, the balcony, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, office,and bedroom zones each have one playback device, while the living roomand master bedroom zones each have multiple playback devices. In theliving room zone, playback devices 104, 106, 108, and 110 may beconfigured to play audio content in synchrony as individual playbackdevices, as one or more bonded playback devices, as one or moreconsolidated playback devices, or any combination thereof. Similarly, inthe case of the master bedroom, playback devices 122 and 124 may beconfigured to play audio content in synchrony as individual playbackdevices, as a bonded playback device, or as a consolidated playbackdevice.

In one example, one or more playback zones in the environment of FIG. 1may each be playing different audio content. For instance, the user maybe grilling in the balcony zone and listening to hip hop music beingplayed by the playback device 102 while another user may be preparingfood in the kitchen zone and listening to classical music being playedby the playback device 114. In another example, a playback zone may playthe same audio content in synchrony with another playback zone. Forinstance, the user may be in the office zone where the playback device118 is playing the same rock music that is being played by playbackdevice 102 in the balcony zone. In such a case, playback devices 102 and118 may be playing the rock music in synchrony such that the user mayseamlessly (or at least substantially seamlessly) enjoy the audiocontent that is being played out-loud while moving between differentplayback zones. Synchronization among playback zones may be achieved ina manner similar to that of synchronization among playback devices, asdescribed in previously referenced U.S. Pat. No. 8,234,395.

As suggested above, the zone configurations of the media playback system100 may be dynamically modified, and in some embodiments, the mediaplayback system 100 supports numerous configurations. For instance, if auser physically moves one or more playback devices to or from a zone,the media playback system 100 may be reconfigured to accommodate thechange(s). For instance, if the user physically moves the playbackdevice 102 from the balcony zone to the office zone, the office zone maynow include both the playback device 118 and the playback device 102.The playback device 102 may be paired or grouped with the office zoneand/or renamed if so desired via a control device such as the controldevices 126 and 128. On the other hand, if the one or more playbackdevices are moved to a particular area in the home environment that isnot already a playback zone, a new playback zone may be created for theparticular area.

Further, different playback zones of the media playback system 100 maybe dynamically combined into zone groups or split up into individualplayback zones. For instance, the dining room zone and the kitchen zone114 may be combined into a zone group for a dinner party such thatplayback devices 112 and 114 may render audio content in synchrony. Onthe other hand, the living room zone may be split into a television zoneincluding playback device 104, and a listening zone including playbackdevices 106, 108, and 110, if the user wishes to listen to music in theliving room space while another user wishes to watch television.

c. Example Control Devices

FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of an example control device 300that may be configured to be one or both of the control devices 126 and128 of the media playback system 100. As shown, the control device 300may include a processor 302, memory 304, a network interface 306, and auser interface 308. In one example, the control device 300 may be adedicated controller for the media playback system 100. In anotherexample, the control device 300 may be a network device on which mediaplayback system controller application software may be installed, suchas for example, an iPhone™, iPad™ or any other smart phone, tablet ornetwork device (e.g., a networked computer such as a PC or Mac™).

The processor 302 may be configured to perform functions relevant tofacilitating user access, control, and configuration of the mediaplayback system 100. The memory 304 may be configured to storeinstructions executable by the processor 302 to perform those functions.The memory 304 may also be configured to store the media playback systemcontroller application software and other data associated with the mediaplayback system 100 and the user.

The microphone(s) 310 may include an audio sensor configured to convertdetected sounds into electrical signals. The electrical signal may beprocessed by the processor 302. In one case, if the control device 300is a device that may also be used as a means for voice communication orvoice recording, one or more of the microphone(s) 310 may be amicrophone for facilitating those functions. For instance, the one ormore of the microphone(s) 310 may be configured to detect sound within afrequency range that a human is capable of producing and/or a frequencyrange audible to humans. Other examples are also possible.

In one example, the network interface 306 may be based on an industrystandard (e.g., infrared, radio, wired standards including IEEE 802.3,wireless standards including IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ac, 802.15, 4G mobile communication standard, and so on). Thenetwork interface 306 may provide a means for the control device 300 tocommunicate with other devices in the media playback system 100. In oneexample, data and information (e.g., such as a state variable) may becommunicated between control device 300 and other devices via thenetwork interface 306. For instance, playback zone and zone groupconfigurations in the media playback system 100 may be received by thecontrol device 300 from a playback device or another network device, ortransmitted by the control device 300 to another playback device ornetwork device via the network interface 306. In some cases, the othernetwork device may be another control device.

Playback device control commands such as volume control and audioplayback control may also be communicated from the control device 300 toa playback device via the network interface 306. As suggested above,changes to configurations of the media playback system 100 may also beperformed by a user using the control device 300. The configurationchanges may include adding/removing one or more playback devices to/froma zone, adding/removing one or more zones to/from a zone group, forminga bonded or consolidated player, separating one or more playback devicesfrom a bonded or consolidated player, among others. Accordingly, thecontrol device 300 may sometimes be referred to as a controller, whetherthe control device 300 is a dedicated controller or a network device onwhich media playback system controller application software isinstalled.

The user interface 308 of the control device 300 may be configured tofacilitate user access and control of the media playback system 100, byproviding a controller interface such as the controller interface 400shown in FIG. 4. The controller interface 400 includes a playbackcontrol region 410, a playback zone region 420, a playback status region430, a playback queue region 440, and an audio content sources region450. The user interface 400 as shown is just one example of a userinterface that may be provided on a network device such as the controldevice 300 of FIG. 3 (and/or the control devices 126 and 128 of FIG. 1)and accessed by users to control a media playback system such as themedia playback system 100. Other user interfaces of varying formats,styles, and interactive sequences may alternatively be implemented onone or more network devices to provide comparable control access to amedia playback system.

The playback control region 410 may include selectable (e.g., by way oftouch or by using a cursor) icons to cause playback devices in aselected playback zone or zone group to play or pause, fast forward,rewind, skip to next, skip to previous, enter/exit shuffle mode,enter/exit repeat mode, enter/exit cross fade mode. The playback controlregion 410 may also include selectable icons to modify equalizationsettings, and playback volume, among other possibilities.

The playback zone region 420 may include representations of playbackzones within the media playback system 100. In some embodiments, thegraphical representations of playback zones may be selectable to bringup additional selectable icons to manage or configure the playback zonesin the media playback system, such as a creation of bonded zones,creation of zone groups, separation of zone groups, and renaming of zonegroups, among other possibilities.

For example, as shown, a “group” icon may be provided within each of thegraphical representations of playback zones. The “group” icon providedwithin a graphical representation of a particular zone may be selectableto bring up options to select one or more other zones in the mediaplayback system to be grouped with the particular zone. Once grouped,playback devices in the zones that have been grouped with the particularzone will be configured to play audio content in synchrony with theplayback device(s) in the particular zone. Analogously, a “group” iconmay be provided within a graphical representation of a zone group. Inthis case, the “group” icon may be selectable to bring up options todeselect one or more zones in the zone group to be removed from the zonegroup. Other interactions and implementations for grouping andungrouping zones via a user interface such as the user interface 400 arealso possible. The representations of playback zones in the playbackzone region 420 may be dynamically updated as playback zone or zonegroup configurations are modified.

The playback status region 430 may include graphical representations ofaudio content that is presently being played, previously played, orscheduled to play next in the selected playback zone or zone group. Theselected playback zone or zone group may be visually distinguished onthe user interface, such as within the playback zone region 420 and/orthe playback status region 430. The graphical representations mayinclude track title, artist name, album name, album year, track length,and other relevant information that may be useful for the user to knowwhen controlling the media playback system via the user interface 400.

The playback queue region 440 may include graphical representations ofaudio content in a playback queue associated with the selected playbackzone or zone group. In some embodiments, each playback zone or zonegroup may be associated with a playback queue containing informationcorresponding to zero or more audio items for playback by the playbackzone or zone group. For instance, each audio item in the playback queuemay comprise a uniform resource identifier (URI), a uniform resourcelocator (URL) or some other identifier that may be used by a playbackdevice in the playback zone or zone group to find and/or retrieve theaudio item from a local audio content source or a networked audiocontent source, possibly for playback by the playback device.

In one example, a playlist may be added to a playback queue, in whichcase information corresponding to each audio item in the playlist may beadded to the playback queue. In another example, audio items in aplayback queue may be saved as a playlist. In a further example, aplayback queue may be empty, or populated but “not in use” when theplayback zone or zone group is playing continuously streaming audiocontent, such as Internet radio that may continue to play untilotherwise stopped, rather than discrete audio items that have playbackdurations. In an alternative embodiment, a playback queue can includeInternet radio and/or other streaming audio content items and be “inuse” when the playback zone or zone group is playing those items. Otherexamples are also possible.

When playback zones or zone groups are “grouped” or “ungrouped,”playback queues associated with the affected playback zones or zonegroups may be cleared or re-associated. For example, if a first playbackzone including a first playback queue is grouped with a second playbackzone including a second playback queue, the established zone group mayhave an associated playback queue that is initially empty, that containsaudio items from the first playback queue (such as if the secondplayback zone was added to the first playback zone), that contains audioitems from the second playback queue (such as if the first playback zonewas added to the second playback zone), or a combination of audio itemsfrom both the first and second playback queues. Subsequently, if theestablished zone group is ungrouped, the resulting first playback zonemay be re-associated with the previous first playback queue, or beassociated with a new playback queue that is empty or contains audioitems from the playback queue associated with the established zone groupbefore the established zone group was ungrouped. Similarly, theresulting second playback zone may be re-associated with the previoussecond playback queue, or be associated with a new playback queue thatis empty, or contains audio items from the playback queue associatedwith the established zone group before the established zone group wasungrouped. Other examples are also possible.

Referring back to the user interface 400 of FIG. 4, the graphicalrepresentations of audio content in the playback queue region 440 mayinclude track titles, artist names, track lengths, and other relevantinformation associated with the audio content in the playback queue. Inone example, graphical representations of audio content may beselectable to bring up additional selectable icons to manage and/ormanipulate the playback queue and/or audio content represented in theplayback queue. For instance, a represented audio content may be removedfrom the playback queue, moved to a different position within theplayback queue, or selected to be played immediately, or after anycurrently playing audio content, among other possibilities. A playbackqueue associated with a playback zone or zone group may be stored in amemory on one or more playback devices in the playback zone or zonegroup, on a playback device that is not in the playback zone or zonegroup, and/or some other designated device.

The audio content sources region 450 may include graphicalrepresentations of selectable audio content sources from which audiocontent may be retrieved and played by the selected playback zone orzone group. Discussions pertaining to audio content sources may be foundin the following section.

d. Example Audio Content Sources

As indicated previously, one or more playback devices in a zone or zonegroup may be configured to retrieve for playback audio content (e.g.according to a corresponding URI or URL for the audio content) from avariety of available audio content sources. In one example, audiocontent may be retrieved by a playback device directly from acorresponding audio content source (e.g., a line-in connection). Inanother example, audio content may be provided to a playback device overa network via one or more other playback devices or network devices.

Example audio content sources may include a memory of one or moreplayback devices in a media playback system such as the media playbacksystem 100 of FIG. 1, local music libraries on one or more networkdevices (such as a control device, a network-enabled personal computer,or a networked-attached storage (NAS), for example), streaming audioservices providing audio content via the Internet (e.g., the cloud), oraudio sources connected to the media playback system via a line-in inputconnection on a playback device or network devise, among otherpossibilities.

In some embodiments, audio content sources may be regularly added orremoved from a media playback system such as the media playback system100 of FIG. 1. In one example, an indexing of audio items may beperformed whenever one or more audio content sources are added, removedor updated. Indexing of audio items may involve scanning foridentifiable audio items in all folders/directory shared over a networkaccessible by playback devices in the media playback system, andgenerating or updating an audio content database containing metadata(e.g., title, artist, album, track length, among others) and otherassociated information, such as a URI or URL for each identifiable audioitem found. Other examples for managing and maintaining audio contentsources may also be possible.

The above discussions relating to playback devices, controller devices,playback zone configurations, and media content sources provide onlysome examples of operating environments within which functions andmethods described below may be implemented. Other operating environmentsand configurations of media playback systems, playback devices, andnetwork devices not explicitly described herein may also be applicableand suitable for implementation of the functions and methods.

III. Example Methods Related to Identification of Audio ContentFacilitated by a Playback Device

As discussed above, some examples described herein include, among otherthings, a playback device (i) receiving digital data representing audiocontent, (ii) sending at least a portion of the digital data to anidentification system configured to identify the audio content based onthe at least a portion of the digital data, (iii) receiving informationassociated with the audio content from the identification system, (iv)in response to receiving the information associated with the audiocontent from the identification system, sending the received informationto a control device that is configured to control the playback device,and (v) playing the audio content via one or more speakers electricallyconnected to the playback device via a wired connection. Other aspectsof the examples will be made apparent in the remainder of thedescription herein.

Methods 500 and 700 respectively shown in FIGS. 5 and 7 present examplemethods that can be implemented within an operating environmentincluding, for example, one or more of the media playback system 100 ofFIG. 1, one or more of the playback device 200 of FIG. 2, and one ormore of the control device 300 of FIG. 3. Methods 500 and 700 mayinclude one or more operations, functions, or actions as illustrated byone or more of blocks 502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 702, 704, and 706.Although the blocks are illustrated in sequential order, these blocksmay also be performed in parallel, and/or in a different order thanthose described herein. Also, the various blocks may be combined intofewer blocks, divided into additional blocks, and/or removed based uponthe desired implementation.

In addition, for the methods 500 and 700 and other processes and methodsdisclosed herein, the flowcharts show functionality and operation of onepossible implementation of present embodiments. In this regard, eachblock may represent a module, a segment, or a portion of program code,which includes one or more instructions executable by a processor forimplementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Theprogram code may be stored on any type of computer-readable medium, forexample, such as a storage device including a disk(s) or hard drive(s).In some embodiments, the program code may be stored in memory (e.g.,disks or disk arrays) associated with and/or connected to a serversystem that makes the program code available for download (e.g., anapplication store or other type of server system) to desktop/laptopcomputers, smart phones, tablet computers, or other types of computingdevices. The computer-readable medium may include non-transitorycomputer-readable media, for example, such as computer-readable mediathat stores data for short periods of time like register memory,processor cache, and Random Access Memory (RAM). The computer-readablemedium may also include non-transitory media, such as secondary orpersistent long-term storage, like read-only memory (ROM), optical ormagnetic disks, compact-disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), for example. Thecomputer-readable media may also be any other volatile or non-volatilestorage systems. The computer-readable medium may be considered acomputer-readable storage medium, for example, or a tangible storagedevice. In addition, for the methods 500 and 700 and other processes andmethods disclosed herein, each block in FIGS. 5 and 7 may representcircuitry that is wired to perform the specific logical functions in theprocess.

At block 502, the method 500 includes receiving digital datarepresenting audio content. Referring to FIG. 6A as an example, theplayback device 602 may receive digital data 612 representing audiocontent from any number of audio content sources described above inSection II.d.

In some examples, the digital data 612 may be received by a dataprocessing unit 620 of playback device 602. The data processing unit 620may include one or more processing modules such as a decoding module, asample rate conversion module, a digital signal processing (DSP) module,a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and/or a crossover. The dataprocessing unit 620 will generally at least include a DAC so that thereceived digital data 612 may be converted into one or more analogsignals 614 and provided to speaker(s) 632 for playback. But the dataprocessing unit 620 may comprise any combination of software, hardware,or firmware suitable for performing operations of the data processingunit 620 described herein.

At block 504, the method 500 includes sending at least a portion of thedigital data to an identification system configured to identify theaudio content based on the at least a portion of the digital data.

For example, the playback device 602 may send portion 616 of the digitaldata 612 to the audio identification system 606. The audioidentification system 606 may be a device configured to identify audiocontent represented by the received portion 616. The audioidentification system 606 may include a computing device that iscommunicatively coupled to the playback device 602 via alocal-area-network. In another example, the audio identification system606 may include a server of an audio content identification service thatis communicatively coupled to the playback device 602 via awide-area-network.

At block 506, the method 500 includes receiving information associatedwith the audio content from the identification system. For example, theplayback device 602 may receive the information 622 that is associatedwith the audio content represented by the received digital data 612 andthe portion 616.

The received information 622 may include one or more of (i) metadatarelated to the audio content, (ii) data identifying a network locationof a device from which metadata related to the audio content can beretrieved, (iii) a uniform resource locator identifying a networklocation of a device from which metadata related to the audio contentcan be retrieved, and (iv) an identifier recognizable to a metadatacurating device as corresponding to metadata related to the audiocontent. For instance, the information 622 may include a track title,performing entity, composing entity, album title, and/or release daterelated to the audio content. As another example, the information 622may include an identifier recognizable to metadata curating device 608as corresponding to metadata related to the audio content.

The metadata curating device 608 may include any combination of one ormore devices and/or servers that stores a database of metadata relatedto various items of audio content. For example, the database may storedata indicating respective associations between various portions ofaudio data and various portions of metadata.

The metadata curating device 608 may be configured to receive requestsfor metadata, perhaps from any internet-enabled device. Such requestsmay include a portion of digital audio data representing audio contentthat corresponds to the requested metadata. The metadata curating device608 may be configured to (i) determine that the received digital audiodata corresponds to one or more items of metadata stored by the metadatacurating device 608 and (ii) return, to the requesting device, themetadata determined to correspond to the received digital audio data.

At block 508, the method 500 involves, in response to receiving theinformation associated with the audio content from the identificationsystem, sending the received information to a control device that isconfigured to control the playback device. For example, the playbackdevice 602 may send the information 626 to the control device 604. Theinformation 626 includes at least a portion of the information 622. Insome embodiments, the audio identification system 606 may send theinformation 626 directly to the control device 604 instead of (orperhaps in addition to) the playback device 602.

At block 510, the method 500 involves playing the audio content via oneor more speakers electrically connected to the playback device via awired connection. In some embodiments, the one or more speakers arestructurally integrated within the playback device.

For example, the data processing unit 620 of playback device 602 maysend one or more analog signals 614 to the speaker(s) 632, and thespeaker(s) 632 may play the audio content represented by the analogsignals 614. As shown in FIG. 6A, the speaker(s) 632 may be structurallyintegrated within the playback device 602. Alternatively, thespeakers(s) 632 may be located external to the playback device 602 andbe electrically connected to the playback device 602 via an audio cableand/or an ouput port (e.g., “line out” port) of the playback device 602.

The method 500 may further include receiving, from the control device, acommand for the playback device to send the at least a portion of thedigital data to the identification system. In this context, the playbackdevice sends at least a portion of the digital data to theidentification system in response to receiving the command from thecontrol device.

For instance, the playback device 602 may receive the command 624 fromthe control device 604. The command 624 may be a command for theplayback device 602 to send the portion 616 to the audio identificationsystem 606. The playback device 602 may send the portion 616 to theaudio identification system 606 in response to receiving the command624.

The method 500 may further involve detecting a discontinuity in thedigital data. In this context, the at least a portion of the digitaldata is sent to the identification system based on the detecteddiscontinuity.

For example, the playback device 602 may detect a discontinuity in thedigital data 612. In some embodiments, the digital data 612 mayrepresent audio content provided as output from a television, forinstance. The playback device 602 may detect a discontinuity within thedigital data 612, such as an indication of a period of silence, forexample, perhaps indicating a switch in content being displayed by thetelevision. More specifically, the detected silence may represent atransition from regularly scheduled programming to a commercialadvertisement, or that a user has changed the channel on the television.In any event, it may be useful to identify audio content represented bythe digital data 612 in response to detecting a discontinuity or otherchange in content being displayed and/or played out by the television.

In another example, the digital data 612 represents an internet radiostream. Re-identifying the audio content represented by the digital data612 may be useful in this context as well so that the control device 604may display current information regarding the dynamically updated audiocontent represented by the digital data 612. For example, when theplayback device 602 detects a discontinuity in the digital data 612,such as a period of silence, the playback device 602 may determinewhether the content in the digital data 612 after the discontinuity isthe same as or different than the content in the digital data 612 beforethe discontinuity. If the content in the digital data 612 after thediscontinuity is different than the content in the digital data 612before the discontinuity, then the control device 604 may displayinformation about and/or other metadata associated with the contentidentified in the digital data 612 after the discontinuity.

The method 500 may further involve sending portions of the digital datato the identification system at periodic instances of time. For example,as the audio content represented by the digital data 612 varies overtime, the playback device 602 may be configured to send a new portion616 of the digital data 612 every five seconds, or perhaps at other timeintervals (e.g., every few seconds, every few tens of seconds, everyminute, every few minutes, and so on). The playback device 602 may sendnew portions 616 at other periodic or semi-periodic time intervals aswell.

In some examples, the digital data is decoded digital data received froma decoder of the playback device. For example, the received data 612 maybe encoded in as MP3, WMA, WAV, or another digital audio format. Thedata processing unit 620 may include a decoder module that is configuredto convert the digital data 612 into pulse-code modulation (PCM) format.In general, the decoder module may be configured to convert any knownformat of audio data to any other known format of audio data. In thiscontext, decoded data is received by the data processing unit 620 andthe playback device 602 provides a decoded portion 616 to the audioidentification system 606. This may be useful because, in some examples,the audio identification system 606 may be configured to identifyportions of audio data that are encoded in a particular format orformats that is different than the format of digital data 612.

The method 500 may further include processing the digital data to changea sample rate of the digital data. In this context, sending the at leasta portion of the digital data comprises sending at least a portion ofthe processed digital data. For example, the data processing unit 620may include a sample rate conversion module configured to receive thedigital data 612 at a first sample rate and generate digital datarepresentative of the audio content at a second sample rate.

In one example, the playback device 602 may receive the digital data 612from an optical output port of a television or other output port of atelevision or other audio and/or video device. The digital data 612 mayinclude a digital representation of the (analog) audio content sampledat a periodic rate of 48 kHz. However, the playback device 602 may beconfigured to manipulate digital data with a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz,for example. In this case, the data processing unit 620 may alter thedigital data 612 so that the portion 616 provided to the audioidentification system 606 has a sample rate of 44.1 kHz. The dataprocessing unit 620 may alter the sample rate of digital data via anyknown sample rate conversion algorithm or similar methods. Such samplerate conversion may involve converting digital data of any first samplerate to digital data of any second sample rate. For example, the audioidentification system 606 may be configured to identify portions ofdigital audio data of a particular sample rate or sample rates. For thatreason, it may be useful to convert the digital data 612 to a portion616 having the particular sample rate or at least one of the samplerates usable by the audio identification system 606.

In some examples, the playback device includes a first data processingmodule and a second data processing module and the digital data is firstdigital data received as output from the first data processing module.In this context, the method 500 may further involve receiving seconddigital data as output from the second data processing module andsending at least a portion of the second digital data to theidentification system.

It may be useful for the playback device to send digital data todifferent audio identification systems in different situations. Forinstance, the playback device may send digital data to a first audioidentification system and receive, from the first audio identificationsystem, a message indicating that the first audio identification systemwas unable to (i) identify the audio content and (ii) retrieve theinformation related to the audio content. Here, the playback device maysend the digital data to a second audio identification system forretrieval of the information. However, the second audio identificationsystem may be configured to receive digital data corresponding to samplerates, frequency ranges, format, etc. that are different than those forwhich the first audio identification system is configured to receive. Inthis case, it may be useful for the playback device to extract thedigital data from different stages of the audio pipeline of the playbackdevice depending on which audio identification system the extracted datais to be sent to.

For instance, the playback device 602 may be configured to dynamicallychange a position of an audio pipeline from which the playback device602 retrieves digital data for audio content identification. Referringto FIG. 6B, the data processing unit 620 of the playback device 602 mayform an audio pipeline including a first data processing module 692, asecond data processing module 694, and a DAC 696. The first dataprocessing module 692 may include one or more of a sample rateconversion module, a DSP module, or decoding module, for example.Similarly, the second data processing module 694 may include one or moreof a sample rate conversion module, a DSP module, or a decoding module.The first data processing module 692 may be configured to use thedigital data 612 to generate processed data 664. The second dataprocessing module 694 may be configured to use the processed data 664 togenerate further processed data 668. The DAC 696 may use the furtherprocessed data 668 to generate the analog signals 614.

In this context, the portion 616 provided to the audio identificationsystem 606 by the playback device 602 may be a portion of the processeddata 664 from the output of the first processing module 692. Thereafter,the playback device 602 may begin extracting data for audio contentidentification from a different position of the audio pipeline.Referring to FIG. 6C for example, the playback device 602 may provideportion 617 of the further processed data 668 to the audioidentification system 606. The audio identification system 606 may usethe portion 617 to retrieve information 623 related to the audiocontent. Accordingly, the playback device 602 may receive information623 and provide at least a portion 627 of the information 623 to thecontrol device 604. In this way, the playback device 602 is configuredto dynamically change a position of the audio pipeline from which theplayback device 602 retrieves digital data for audio contentidentification. In some embodiments, the audio identification system 606may send the information 623 directly to the control device 604 insteadof (or perhaps in addition to) the playback device 602.

The method 500 may further involve segregating the digital data into aplurality of portions representing respective audio frequency ranges ofthe audio content. In this context, sending the at least a portion ofthe digital data may include sending a given portion of the segregatedplurality of portions of the digital data.

Referring to FIG. 6D, the data processing unit 620 of the playbackdevice 602 may include a crossover 692 and a DAC 697. The crossover 692may receive the digital data 612 and segregate the digital data 612 intoportions 664A and 664B that correspond to respective frequency ranges ofthe audio content. For example, the portion 664A may correspond to abass frequency range for playback by a subwoofer of speaker(s) 632,whereas the portion 664B may correspond to another frequency range forplayback by midrange drivers and/or tweeters of the speaker(s) 632. Theportions 664A and 664B may correspond to other respective frequencyranges as well. The DAC 697 may then convert the portions 664A and 664Binto respective analog signals 614A and 614B for playback by thespeakers 632. In other examples, the digital data 612 may first beconverted into an analog signal and then the analog signal may besegregated into respective frequency ranges via one or more discretefilters.

As shown in FIG. 6D, the playback device 602 sends the portion 616 tothe audio identification system 606 for identification of the audiocontent. In this example, the portion 616 is extracted from the portion664B at the output of the crossover 692. The playback device 602 maythen receive, from the audio identification system 606, information 622related to the audio content represented by the portion 616. Theplayback device 602 may also send information 626 to the control device604. The information 626 may include at least a portion of information622. In some embodiments, the audio identification system 606 may sendthe information 622 directly to the control device 604 instead of (orperhaps in addition to) the playback device 602.

Referring to FIG. 7, at block 702 the method 700 includes sending, to aplayback device, a command for the playback device to retrieve, from anidentification system, information related to digital data that is beingreceived by the playback device. In this context, the playback devicemay be playing audio content represented by the digital data when thecommand is sent.

Referring to FIG. 6A for example, the control device 604 may send thecommand 624 to the playback device 602. The command 624 may be a commandfor the playback device 602 to retrieve, from the audio identificationsystem 606, information 622 related to the digital data 612. Theplayback device 602 may be playing audio content represented by thedigital data 612 when the command 624 is sent. For example, the controldevice 604 may send the command 624 while the playback device 602 isproviding the one or more analog signals 614 to the speaker(s) 632 forplayback.

At block 704, the method 700 includes receiving, from the playbackdevice, the information retrieved by the playback device from theidentification system. For example, the control device 604 may receivethe information 626 from the playback device 602. The information 626may include at least a portion of the information 622.

At block 706, the method 700 includes displaying a representation of (i)the received information and/or (ii) metadata retrieved from a metadatacurating device at a network location indicated by the receivedinformation. As an example, FIG. 8 shows a controller interface 800 thatmay be displayed by the control device 604. The controller interface 800may include a playback status region 830 and a popup menu 850.

In one example, with reference to FIG. 6A, the information 626 mayinclude a track title and an artist name that are related to the digitaldata 612. Accordingly, the control device 604 may display arepresentation of the track title and the artist name as shown in theplayback status region 830 shown in FIG. 8.

In another example (not shown), the information 626 may include anetwork location of the metadata curating device 608. The control device604 may use the network location to send a request 628 for the metadatato the metadata curating device 608. The control device 604 then mayreceive the metadata 630 from the metadata curating device 608. Themetadata 630 may include a track title and an artist name related to thedigital data 612, and a representation of this information may bedisplayed within the playback status region 830.

In some examples, the received information may include an identifierrecognizable to the metadata curating device 608 as corresponding tometadata related to the audio content. Accordingly, the method 700 mayfurther include sending the identifier to the metadata curating deviceand receiving the metadata related to the audio content from themetadata curating device.

For example, the information 626 may include an identifier (oridentifiers) recognizable to the metadata curating device 608 ascorresponding to metadata related to the audio content. The controldevice 604 may send the identifier(s) with the request 628, so that themetadata curating device 608 uses the identifier(s) to retrieve themetadata 630 related to the audio content. Then the control device 604may receive the metadata 630 from the metadata curating device 608 anddisplay a representation of the metadata 630 within the playback statusregion 830.

The method 700 may further include receiving a command input for theplayback device to retrieve the information related to the digital data.In this context, the command is sent in response to (or at least basedon) receiving the command input.

For example, the control device 604 may receive, via the controllerinterface 800, a command input for the playback device 602 to retrievethe information 622. For example, with reference to FIG. 8, thecontroller interface 800 may receive a touch input at the playbackstatus region 830. In response, the controller interface 800 may providethe popup menu 850 which presents a choice of either refreshing themetadata fields that are displayed in the playback status region 830 orsearching for additional information.

For example, choosing “Refresh Metadata” may cause the control device604 to send the command 624. In this context, the command 624 may be acommand to refresh the displayed metadata or to retrieve metadata thatis lacking from the display.

Choosing “search” may cause the playback device 602 or the controldevice 604 to perform a web search and provide search results related tothe audio content represented within the playback status region 830.

In some examples, the information related to the digital data pertainsto a given category of information. In this context, the method 700 mayfurther involve receiving metadata related to the audio content from theplayback device and determining that the metadata received from theplayback device lacks the information pertaining to the given categoryof information. In this context, the command may be sent in response to(or at least based on) determining that the metadata received from theplayback device lacks the information pertaining to the given categoryof information.

For example, the control device 604 may receive metadata 627 from theplayback device 602. The control device 604 may determine that themetadata 627 lacks information pertaining to an album name. Accordingly,the control device 604 may send the command 624 in response to (or atleast based on) determining that the information pertaining to the albumname is lacking from the metadata 627. The playback device 602 thenretrieves information 622 and provides information 626 in response tothe command 624. As a result, the control device 604 receives thelacking information pertaining to the album name and may display suchinformation at area 835 of the controller interface 800.

IV. Conclusion

The description above discloses, among other things, various examplesystems, methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture including,among other components, firmware and/or software executed on hardware.It is understood that such examples are merely illustrative and shouldnot be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that anyor all of the firmware, hardware, and/or software aspects or componentscan be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software,exclusively in firmware, or in any combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware. Accordingly, the examples provided are not the onlyway(s) to implement such systems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles ofmanufacture.

Additionally, references herein to “embodiment” means that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment can be included in at least one example embodiment of aninvention. The appearances of this phrase in various places in thespecification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment,nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of otherembodiments. As such, the embodiments described herein, explicitly andimplicitly understood by one skilled in the art, can be combined withother embodiments.

The specification is presented largely in terms of illustrativeenvironments, systems, procedures, steps, logic blocks, processing, andother symbolic representations that directly or indirectly resemble theoperations of data processing devices coupled to networks. These processdescriptions and representations are typically used by those skilled inthe art to most effectively convey the substance of their work to othersskilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide athorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it isunderstood to those skilled in the art that certain embodiments of thepresent disclosure can be practiced without certain, specific details.In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, andcircuitry have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarilyobscuring aspects of the embodiments. Accordingly, the scope of thepresent disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than theforgoing description of embodiments.

When any of the appended claims are read to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the elements in at leastone example is hereby expressly defined to include a tangible,non-transitory medium such as a memory, DVD, CD, Blu-ray, and so on,storing the software and/or firmware.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A playback device, comprising: anenclosure; a network interface mounted in the enclosure; one or morespeaker drivers mounted in the enclosure; one or more processors mountedin the enclosure; and tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable mediamounted in the enclosure and storing instructions that, when executed bythe one or more processors, cause the playback device to performfunctions comprising: playing back, via the one or more speaker drivers,audio content, wherein the audio content is identified by firstmetadata; while playing back musical content within the audio contentvia the one or more speaker drivers, determining that the first metadataexcludes one or more items of metadata corresponding to the musicalcontent; based on determining that the first metadata excludes the oneor more items of metadata corresponding to musical content,transmitting, via the network interface, a request for second metadatacorresponding to the musical content, from a first identificationsystem; receiving, via the network interface from the firstidentification system, a message indicating that the firstidentification system was unable to (i) identify the audio content and(ii) retrieve information related to the audio content; based onreceiving the message, transmitting, via the network interface, afurther request for third metadata corresponding to the audio contentrepresenting the musical content, from a second identification system;and receiving, via the network interface from the second identificationsystem in response to transmitting the further request, supplementarymetadata identifying the audio content and containing informationrelated to the audio content.
 2. The playback device of claim 1, whereinthe functions further comprise: based on receiving, from the secondidentification system, the supplementary metadata, storing instructionsto send future requests corresponding to the audio content to the secondidentification system.
 3. The playback device of claim 1, wherein thesecond identification system is configured to receive digital datacorresponding to sample rates, frequency ranges, or formats that aredifferent than those for which the first identification system isconfigured to receive.
 4. The playback device of claim 1, wherein thesupplementary metadata comprises one or more of: (i) album name; (ii)track title; (iii) artist name; (iv) album year; (v) release date; (vi)composing entity; and (vii) performing entity.
 5. The playback device ofclaim 1, wherein the functions further comprise: in response toreceiving, from the second identification system, the supplementarymetadata corresponding to the musical content, causing a control deviceto display a graphical representation of the received supplementarymetadata, wherein causing the control device to display the graphicalrepresentation comprises sending, via the network interface to thecontrol device, the received supplementary metadata to the controldevice.
 6. The playback device of claim 1, wherein transmitting, via thenetwork interface, the further request for third metadata correspondingto the audio content representing the musical content, from a secondidentification system comprises transmitting, via the network interface,multiple requests for third metadata corresponding to the audio contentrepresenting the musical content, from multiple identification systems.7. The playback device of claim 6, wherein the functions furthercomprise: receiving, via the network interface from the multipleidentification systems in response to transmitting the multiplerequests, supplementary metadata identifying the audio content andcontaining information related to the audio content; and in response toreceiving, from the multiple identification systems, the supplementarymetadata corresponding to the musical content, causing a control deviceto display a graphical representation of the received supplementarymetadata, wherein causing the control device to display the graphicalrepresentation comprises sending, via the network interface to thecontrol device, the received supplementary metadata to the controldevice.
 8. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium havingstored thereon instructions executable by a one or more processors tocause a playback device to perform functions comprising: playing back,via one or more speaker drivers, audio content, wherein the audiocontent is identified by first metadata; while playing back musicalcontent within the audio content via the one or more speaker drivers,determining that the first metadata excludes one or more items ofmetadata corresponding to the musical content; based on determining thatthe first metadata excludes the one or more items of metadatacorresponding to musical content, transmitting, via a network interface,a request for second metadata corresponding to the musical content, froma first identification system; receiving, via the network interface fromthe first identification system, a message indicating that the firstidentification system was unable to (i) identify the audio content and(ii) retrieve information related to the audio content; based onreceiving the message, transmitting, via the network interface, afurther request for third metadata corresponding to the audio contentrepresenting the musical content, from a second identification system;and receiving, via the network interface from the second identificationsystem in response to transmitting the further request, supplementarymetadata identifying the audio content and containing informationrelated to the audio content.
 9. The tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the functions furthercomprise: based on receiving, from the second identification system, thesupplementary metadata, storing instructions to send future requestscorresponding to the audio content to the second identification system.10. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8,wherein the second identification system is configured to receivedigital data corresponding to sample rates, frequency ranges, or formatsthat are different than those for which the first identification systemis configured to receive.
 11. The tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the supplementary metadatacomprises one or more of: (i) album name; (ii) track title; (iii) artistname; (iv) album year; (v) release date; (vi) composing entity; and(vii) performing entity.
 12. The tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the functions furthercomprise: in response to receiving, from the second identificationsystem, the supplementary metadata corresponding to the musical content,causing a control device to display a graphical representation of thereceived supplementary metadata, wherein causing the control device todisplay the graphical representation comprises sending, via the networkinterface to the control device, the received supplementary metadata tothe control device.
 13. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein transmitting, via the network interface, thefurther request for third metadata corresponding to the audio contentrepresenting the musical content, from a second identification systemcomprises transmitting, via the network interface, multiple requests forthird metadata corresponding to the audio content representing themusical content, from multiple identification systems.
 14. The tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein thefunctions further comprise: receiving, via the network interface fromthe multiple identification systems in response to transmitting themultiple requests, supplementary metadata identifying the audio contentand containing information related to the audio content; and in responseto receiving, from the multiple identification systems, thesupplementary metadata corresponding to the musical content, causing acontrol device to display a graphical representation of the receivedsupplementary metadata, wherein causing the control device to displaythe graphical representation comprises sending, via the networkinterface to the control device, the received supplementary metadata tothe control device.
 15. A method to be performed by a playback device,the method comprising: playing back, via one or more speaker drivers,audio content, wherein the audio content is identified by firstmetadata; while playing back musical content within the audio contentvia the one or more speaker drivers, determining that the first metadataexcludes one or more items of metadata corresponding to the musicalcontent; based on determining that the first metadata excludes the oneor more items of metadata corresponding to musical content,transmitting, via a network interface, a request for second metadatacorresponding to the musical content, from a first identificationsystem; receiving, via the network interface from the firstidentification system, a message indicating that the firstidentification system was unable to (i) identify the audio content and(ii) retrieve information related to the audio content; based onreceiving the message, transmitting, via the network interface, afurther request for third metadata corresponding to the audio contentrepresenting the musical content, from a second identification system;and receiving, via the network interface from the second identificationsystem in response to transmitting the further request, supplementarymetadata identifying the audio content and containing informationrelated to the audio content.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein thefunctions further comprise: based on receiving, from the secondidentification system, the supplementary metadata, storing instructionsto send future requests corresponding to the audio content to the secondidentification system.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the secondidentification system is configured to receive digital datacorresponding to sample rates, frequency ranges, or formats that aredifferent than those for which the first identification system isconfigured to receive.
 18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:in response to receiving, from the second identification system, thesupplementary metadata corresponding to the musical content, causing acontrol device to display a graphical representation of the receivedsupplementary metadata, wherein causing the control device to displaythe graphical representation comprises sending, via the networkinterface to the control device, the received supplementary metadata tothe control device.
 19. The method of claim 15, wherein transmitting,via the network interface, the further request for third metadatacorresponding to the audio content representing the musical content,from a second identification system comprises transmitting, via thenetwork interface, multiple requests for third metadata corresponding tothe audio content representing the musical content, from multipleidentification systems.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:receiving, via the network interface from the multiple identificationsystems in response to transmitting the multiple requests, supplementarymetadata identifying the audio content and containing informationrelated to the audio content; and in response to receiving, from themultiple identification systems, the supplementary metadatacorresponding to the musical content, causing a control device todisplay a graphical representation of the received supplementarymetadata, wherein causing the control device to display the graphicalrepresentation comprises sending, via the network interface to thecontrol device, the received supplementary metadata to the controldevice.